According to World Series of Fighting executive vice president and matchmaker Ali Abdel-Aziz, Frank’s manager Brian Butler, recently contacted the promotion about setting up a fight under the WSOF banner between his client and Punk, real name Phil Brooks. Butler confirmed making the call, and Frank recently threw out a challenge via Instagram.

Abdel-Aziz said the promotion was interested in the fight, and if Punk didn’t want to fight that particular opponent for whatever reason, they would be interested in having him fight someone else. They have not talked to Punk just yet.

MMAFighting.com attempted to reach out to Punk to get his thoughts on the fight, but he did not reply. We were, however, the last outlet to talk to him prior to his decision to leave WWE, and he confirmed that he does still think about fighting, an idea he has flirted with throughout the last couple years.

“I’m 35. I never competed in martial arts, so who’s to say if I would be good or not,” he said. “I really think there’s a chance, but I’m mainly just saying so I can read people talk shit on message boards.”

He then replied “I think so” when asked if he had an itch to fight. Punk currently trains Brazilian jiu-jitsu with Rener Gracie.

The 35-year-old former WWE heavyweight champion reportedly left the organization last week with five months remaining on his current contract. He has yet to publicly comment on the situation.

Frank is 1-0 as a pro MMA fighter and 3-0 as an amateur. The 40-year-old’s last MMA fight came in Aug. 2010.

Does professional wrestling superstar, CM Punk, plan to follow in the oversized footsteps of Brock Lesnar, parlaying a successful WWE career into a UFC berth? Don’t count on it.

Sitting here typing this in what now (supposedly) amounts to a throwback World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) CM Punk sweatshirt, I — like many mixed martial arts (MMA) fans — am fascinated with the idea of talentedprofessional wrestlers trying their hands in real fist fights.

Therefore, when CM Punk “walked away” from WWE following last Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view (PPV) — paired with the equally satiating comments the Chicago native recently made in this interview about a potential run in MMA — it was hard to block out the rampant speculation and rumors that he would align with UFC.

Unsurprisingly, as a result, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White was questioned about the topic today during his pre-UFC 169 media scrums (watch full video replay here):

“I was with him all night in Chicago and he never said anything to me about it. I like him, he’s a great guy. It’s a little late to get in the game, who knows if he can fight?”

The “Best In The World” is a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu trainee, but the question remains whether all of this talk amounts to nothing more than another contrived publicity stunt for the run-up to WWE’s marquee event, which will premier on the new “WWE Network,” WrestleMania 30 this upcoming April.

“He hasn’t said a word to me. He hasn’t reached out to me, he never said a word about it. He just showed up, we talked about lot’s of things, fighting was not one of them.”

Punk has a history of “falling out” with WWE, whether it be behind the scenes or “worked” into a story line. If he truly has taken a step away from the squared circle it’s yet to be seen, but it’s hard to believe the 35-year-old would embark on a path to fighting inside the Octagon following countless injuries and the desire to spend more time out of the spotlight.

Nonetheless, until this all gets sorted out, us pro wrasslin’/MMA heads can dream. And that’s more than likely what this whole situation will amount to once the dust settles.

3:00 p.m. — We’ll answer your #themmahour questions on anything and everything going on in the MMA world. Hit us up on Twitter using that hash tag, leave a question in the comments section below, or give us a call. Also, “Ric’s Picks Challenge” will continue as we look ahead to UFC on FOX 7.

Plus, we’ll be taking your calls on anything and everything. Got a question or comment? Give us a call at 1-888-418-4074.

One once stood where he stands, and the other is hoping to follow a path similar to the one he’s taken, so pro wrestling star and WWE champion CM Punk has a pretty good understanding of the respective mindsets of Dave Bautista and “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal.

Bautista, who spent several years in the WWE as a major draw, made his mixed martial arts debut last Saturday night. The 43-year-old has by all accounts made loads of money, and he’s dabbled in acting, but mixed martial arts has been a passion of his for some time, and he followed through on a promise to try it out.

His performance, while uneven, got the job done, as he earned a first-round TKO win over journeyman Vince Lucero.

Of course, afterward, there were critics, as though he was expected to be a more complete fighter after a relatively short time training. Unlike other former pro wrestlers including Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashely who made the move, Bautista had no amateur wrestling experience. Because of that, Punk says that Bautista deserves some leeway.

“It’s definitely a bucket-list kind of thing,” he said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I think it’s awesome, too. Dave just wanted the experience. He wanted to fight even if it was just one time. It was something that he wanted to do. He loves it so he put his mind to it and did it, and I think that amazing. I don’t think anybody can criticize that. He has no delusions of grandeur. He’s not trying to get a big, fat UFC contract. He’s not trying to coast on his name from the WWE. He’s just fighting because he wanted to experience it.”

Having watched the fight, Punk acknowledged that Bautista looked “really nervous” but was impressed by how he overcome the butterflies to achieve victory.

That, he said, should be the ultimate takeaway from someone fighting for the first time, instead of in-depth criticism of what he did or didn’t do well.

“The haters, if you’re doing something right you’re going to get criticized. I don’t think there’s a whole lot of people who can do what Dave did, and those are the ones that are going to criticize him. To me, those are the funniest ones. They say funny stuff. They make the funniest comments and they’re fun to laugh at.”

As a pro wrestler, Punk is used to having to these dual reactions. On one side are the legions of pro wrestling fans who rabidly follow the goings-on and treat the stars as heroes, and on the other are those who turn up their nose at the entertainment form and write it off as juvenile.

That makes it all the more interesting that former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champ “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal would try to go in the other direction, from a career as world-ranked pro fighter into wrestling.

In May, Lawal signed deals with both Bellator and TNA wrestling, and just last week, he made his debut with the latter. He’ll try to simultaneously take part in both worlds, something that has never been done until now.

Punk said it was inevitable, noting that there have been many crossover stars over the years, and that several Japanese promotions tried to blur the lines between wrestling and fighting.

That won’t make it any easier for Lawal, he said.

“It definitely is [a tall order],” Punk said. “Both jobs are full-time jobs. This is the evolution of our sport. MMA is so huge, and there’s a lot of fighters that are fans of pro wrestling and there’s also a whole lot of pro wrestlers who are huge MMA fans. This is just the next step. I think somebody was going to do it or try it eventually.”

The MMA Hour is back in your life on Monday, and we’ve got another jam-packed show lined up for you. Here’s a rundown of who will be stopping by.

1 — Jason “Mayhem” Miller will be in studio to discuss his life outside of the UFC and his recent arrest in his first interview since May.

2 — We’ll answer your #themmahour questions on anything and everything going on in the MMA world. Hit us up on Twitter using that hash tag or give us a call. The best question will receive this prize from Round 5: Ultimate Collector Series 10 featuring Championship Editions of Anderson Silva and Dominick Cruz, Pride variants for Alistair Overeem and Mark Coleman, the Round 5 debuts of Chael Sonnen and Anthony Pettis, and a brand new figure for Lyoto Machida. We’ll be giving away one of those for the next few weeks.

2:20 — Former UFC heavyweight and current curtain-jerker Sean McCorkle will stop by for another “McCorkle Minute.”

True, Jon, but doing the same thing back to Sonnen on Twitter kind of blends into that whole hypocritical aura you seem to exude. Just sayin’.

Forget what I just said, that was kind of awesome. Chael, the floor is yours.

But you know what I hate about this the most? The fact that Jones is playing right into Chael’s game(see below), which can only mean one thing: an expedited, undeserved title shot for Chael Sonnen if Jones is able to dispatch Dan Henderson at UFC 151. Sure, the next shot has been promised to Lyoto Machida, but we all know how much better Sonnen vs. Jones (or Sonnen vs. anyone, for that matter) would do as far as pay-per-view sales go. Rivalries trump legitimate contenders 9 times out of 10, and the fact that Machida has already faced Jones and lost certainly won’t help those numbers. Sonnen undoubtedly knows this, the clever cow, and is leading Bones into his Jigsaw-esque trap like the pro that he is.

Prediction: If Jones beats Hendo, he will suffer an injury significant enough that Machida will be forced to take another fight in his prolonged absence. Meanwhile, Jones and Sonnen will continue to hype their rivalry until Sonnen vs. Griffin is declared a #1 contenders match (hey, crazier things have happened). Sonnen will win, and Lyoto will be left in the dark, drinking homemade Mai Tai after Mai Tai as a means of consoling himself for not talking enough shit over Twitter to get a rematch with Bones.

I could be wrong, but I watched The Mentalist for eight straight hours yesterday, which leads me to believe that I am spot on.

[UPDATE - 4:30 p.m. EST]

Wait a minute…as I’m writing this, it seems Jones has used the Avatarian connection that all people with the same last name share to hack into my brain and respond to my worries before I could even publish them (same wording and everything), stating the following on Twitter:

For everyone who thinks I’m “falling into chaels game” I know exactly what I’m doing.. #AreYouNotEntertained